In Japan, bobtail cats are considered good luck and Nagasaki is the place to find them.
They are known as omagari neko (bent-tail cats) or kagi neko (hook cats), and have their own society of admirers and even a dedicated Shinto shrine.
Their tails come in varieties including hook-shaped at the tip, curved or in a bun, said Kazuya Hideshima, a worker at Omagari Neko Shrine and member of the Nagasaki Cat Society.
Photo: AP
Studies have indicated that bobtails accounted for about 80 percent of the cats in Nagasaki, twice the occurrence of anywhere else in Japan.
Japanese cats are believed to have come from China in the 6th century with Buddhist monks, serving as rat hunters to protect religious scriptures on ships.
Nagasaki bobtails have their roots in the Dutch East Indies, when the city was the only foreign port during Japan’s closed era in the 17th to 19th centuries. They hunted rats to protect shipments on their way from Southeast Asia to Japan, Nagasaki cultural officials said.
Photo: AP
The large population of bobtails in Nagasaki is likely the result of a genetic mutation that reproduced in a relatively isolated environment when the nation was shut up tight, said Soshin Yamamoto, a veterinarian and cat specialist.
“Having bobtails is no problem for most cats living a normal life, as long as they live near humans, and aren’t jumping and running around like wild cats in a forest,” he said.
Nagasaki residents hope the cats bring in tourists and help business.
Photo: AP
Natsuno Kani, a 50-year-old tourist from Tokyo who recently visited the bobtail shrine, said she knew Nagasaki was famous for bent-tail cats.
However, Abigail Tarraso, an artist from Spain based in Takeo City in neighboring Saga Prefecture, was unfamiliar with the species, which is not as popular in Spain.
“Today is the first time in Nagasaki that I have ever heard of this,” said Cindy Bi, an American who is also an artist. “I am excited to look around for them. Maybe we will see a few.”
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS